INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES
Year:2015 | Volume:5 | Issue:4 (20)|Papers Count:9

The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between information technology literacy and critical thinking skills of graduate students. Adopting a descriptive survey, the statistical population of the study included graduate students of Islamic Azad University of Sari Branch. Using Krejcie and Morgan table, 331 were randomly selected. The research instruments were researcher-made information technology literacy questionnaire and critical thinking questionnaire, the validities of which were confirmed by the experts in the field of educational sciences. The reliabilities for the given questionnaires were estimated through Chronbach's alpha coefficient by distributing the questionnaires among a group of 30 participants, the result of which was 0.93 for IT literacy questionnaire and 0.80 for critical thinking skills. Regarding the establishment of parametric statistics, the Pearson correlation was used to analyze the data. The results of the study showed that there was no relationship between IT literacy and critical thinking skills (creativity, maturity and commitment) among higher education students. It means that IT literacy was not a reason for the existence of critical thinking, perhaps the best time for improving the thinking power among people through using information technology is before their entrance to higher education.

The present study investigated the effect of education via M-learning on learning, retention and progress motivation comparing it with traditional methods. This study was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population included students of hydrology engineering at agriculture faculty of Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University (N=74). Through Cochran formula, 38 of the participants were selected as the study sample. Before conducting the test, the learning pre-test and Herman's questionnaire were used for both groups in similar conditions. After three weeks, the post-test for learning and progress motivation were administered and after one month, the retention test was administered to both groups. The findings were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent t-test. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. The results of this study showed a high level of learning and retention in M-learning than traditional methods. But, the motivation for progress in traditional methods was higher than M-learning.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the virtual courses of educators’ in-service training. This research adopted a descriptive approach to conduct the study using survey method. Its statistical population consisted of 881 teachers in Dehloran in 2014. Using the stratified sampling, the sample size was determined as 267 persons by Morgan and Krejcie table, of whom 134 were men and 133 were women who answered the researcher-made questionnaire being prepared based on theoretical foundations of the study as well as previous studies. Face and content validities of the questionnaire were also confirmed using the ideas of a number of experts and specialists of virtual training courses, and the questionnaire reliability was estimated as 0.88 using Chronbach's alpha coefficient. The Kolmogorov Smirnov and Binominal (proportions) tests were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the lack of provision of necessary infrastructures and facilities for virtual training courses effectiveness and lack of the virtual training courses effectiveness compared to attending courses sit among the challenges. Moreover, educational courses compatible with the needs of educators and acquisition of necessary skills for effective use of in-service virtual training courses can be seen as opportunities.

The present research analyzed the relationship between acceptance of information technology and employees’ creativity in Isfahan Steel Mill Company using descriptive correlational approach. Statistical population was all 800 employees in administrative sections of the company. 259 people were chosen as the study sample using convenience sampling method and Cochran's sample size formula. To collect data, two researcher-made questionnaires of acceptance of information technology by using the dimensions of Davis Model (1989) and the adjusted questionnaire of Randcip’s organizational creativity (1979) were used. Also, the content validity and reliability were estimated and confirmed. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between acceptance of information technology and employees’ creativity (r=0.577, P<0.01). According to stepwise regression conducted, among the variables of acceptance of information technology, the best predictor of employees’ creativity in the first step was external variables and in the second step was perceived usefulness.

The aim of this paper was to analyze the content of physics educational multimedia for high school students regarding the principles of multimedia, structure and content. These principles contain multimedia principle, contiguity, redundancy, speech and personalization. This study was qualitatively conducted. The sample of the study comprised a selection of educational software of physics course for the second year of high school. Using purposive sampling method and due to the shortages of the samples, 11 were selected and were evaluated through content analysis methods. Totally, 15 categories and 97 codes of educational multimedia dimensions including demographic, content and structural features were found and their evidence was studied. Findings showed that for the educational multimedia, more attention was given to demographic features. Considering the structural category, findings showed that the highest content was given to the preliminary section and the least content was given to the peripheral category. Pointing to the content category, which was of the multimedia principles, findings showed that most of the attention was given to the redundancy and speech principles, and the least attention was given to the personalization principle. Each of the given categories can help the researcher as independent issues for future studies serving as underlying principles to meet the problems in educational multimedia and discover a new dimension.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between information technology and psychological empowerment of education managers in district one of Sari. This applied study adopted a descriptive-correlational approach as its methodology. The statistical population of the study was 220 educational managers in Sari district one in academic year of 2013-14, of whom 136 were chosen as the study sample using Krejcie and Morgan table. Data collection tools were two researcher-made information technology questionnaires consisting of 15 modified questions with a reliability of 0.91 and Spritzer psychological empowerment standard questionnaire including 15 questions with different reliabilities at different dimensions of being competence 0.88, being effective 0.89, being meaningful 0.86, self-determination 0.88 and trustworthy 0.84. The obtained statistical results were provided in two parts of descriptive and inferential statistics, which included the Pearson correlation and the linear regression tests. The results of the study showed that there was a significant relationship between information technology and empowerment of education managers, feeling of being meaningful, feeling of being effective, feeling of self-determination, and feeling of being effective. But there was no significant relationship between information technology and feeling of competence.

In today’s competitive world, countries use different ways to acquire and use the technology boom. While the ultimate goal of technology transfer and acquisition in industrializing countries is to absorb and localize technical knowledge, it seems this is not sometimes fulfilled because of some obstacles and factors. Although there are some barriers to localize technology in Iran as well as other developing countries, it is more important in Iran due to some problems such as sanctions. In this paper, firm level and micro-level technology localization factors were extracted by conducting in-depth interviews with experts of Jahad Daneshgahi at Iran University of Science and Technology and Tajrobeh Nour Turbine Company, and then, were depicted in a Structural Equation Model (SEM) form. The size of the statistical population was 120 people, all of whom were considered as the sample size. After distributing the questionnaires among all members of that society, only 91 ones were responded. In this research, the Combined Reliability method was used to examine research reliability and its value was 0.87. The results illustrated that firms seeking to localize technology should invest in five fields such as learning style, technological collaborations, technology adoption, absorptive capacity, and the main activities of localization.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of teachers’ motivation and attitudes on using information and communication technologies at Yazd high schools. The study adopted a descriptive-correlational approach. The statistical population included all high school teachers (N= 3585), among whom 454 people were selected as the study sample through stratified random sampling method and Cochran formula. Questionnaires were included 3 inventories: van Braak (2001) Standard ICT application level, van Braak & Goeman (2003) General Attitudes toward Computers Scale, and Motivation Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, structural equation modeling (SEM) and confirmatory path analysis using LISERL software. The results indicated that there was a positive and significant relationship between attitudinal and motivational factors with ICT application. This means that the teachers’ attitudes and motivation had impact on using ICT.